9 Reasons to Sell on Gumtree Instead of eBay

Gumtree is seen as the UK's answer to Craigslist. The site is a place to sell your unwanted goods (and all kinds of other services) without all the strings that other marketplaces bring with them. Let's break down all the reasons why you might choose to get rid of something with Gumtree instead of eBay.

1. No fees

Charges are incurred for listing products, selling products, receiving payment via PayPal and for any postage costs you add on top for eBay. It's all a bit much considering you can sell the same product for the same price on Gumtree. Why pay to sell when you don't have to?

2. Lower expectations

There's so much pressure on eBay sellers to maintain good feedback. While you obviously should try to deliver the best customer service possible, it can be intimidating to those new to the platform. Gumtree buyers are a lot more relax and forgiving in my experience.

3. It doesn't require PayPal

You wouldn't believe how many people still don't have PayPal accounts. I don't know how they get by, but it's meant that they've steered well clear of eBay as a result. The crazy thing is you can pay for things without using PayPal now, but that news isn't getting back to everyone. Gumtree buyers are most likely to give you cash on receipt of their goods, and that's an advantage to many.

4. Local buyers

Listings on Gumtree are largely based around your location. You're selling products to people around you, making it a lot easier to arrange collections and organise yourself.

5. Reduced competition

eBay follows Amazon as the biggest retail site in the UK. It's massive. A lot of traffic pours into that site each day and it's a blessing to people on there. However, it’s absolutely flooded with products. It can make it difficult to stand out from the competition. People from around the world can list their things, making it harder to find yours. Gumtree, being a lot more local, means you’re far less likely to sell the same product at the same time as someone in your local area.

6. People expect to pay cash on collection

Cash-in-hand. That's the standard for most Gumtree transactions. No messing around trying to figure out if payments have been processed or if funds have been held by a payment provider. Cash is exchanged directly and no fees are applied in the process.

7. Simplified listing process

I would consider the eBay listing process to be a bit more complicated than it needs to be. A few recent developments that require even more details to be filled out per listing, and it's off-putting for many. On Gumtree there's none of that; take a photo, write a title, description, price and you're done.

8. Ability to talk to buyers

eBay is notorious for preventing buying and sellers from communicating via phone. Gumtree isn’t nearly as strict on all of this, allowing you to sort out arrangements that probably aren’t possible on eBay.

9. Dropshipping opportunities

Gumtree buyers are looking for bargains, and assume that they’re going to buy something below the value on eBay, Amazon and wherever else. That’s an opportunity for you to find new products that are cheaper than they look (especially small furniture), list them on Gumtree, and then agree to ship them instead of having them collect. Little will you know you’v bought it from an online retailer and had it delivered to them for profit.

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- Chiino
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